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1. Kevin Simm of former Liberty X fame was talented

Liberty X found fame on another talent show, Popstars: The Rivals, way back when. At least, the girls in Liberty X found fame – the blokes just kind of loitered at the back, looking like they might be about to sell you a gym membership.

One of those blokes, Kevin Simm, is now 35 and still desperate to make it in the music industry. Bit tragic, yes, but his audition was one of the best on the series so far. Ricky Wilson gave his rendition of Sia's Chandelier a standing ovation, Paloma Faith cried, Boy George waxed lyrical about his various achievements and will.i.am…. well, will.i.am told him he had a perfect beard.

Former Liberty X member Kevin Simm's audition unintentionally sparks an argument between the judges this weekCredit:
Guy Levy/Wall To Wall

2. Once again, some singers got lost on the way to X Factor

Why-oh-why would a talented, attractive young person with genuine popstar dreams bother with The Voice when it’s yet to produce a single success story? “Today could be the first step in the life I hope to live one day,” said poor naïve 17-year-old Aliesha Lobuczek before singing a perfectly pleasant Ariana Grande song in a perfectly pleasant fashion.

Even the coaches were baffled. “How did you end up on here?” asked Boy George. She might ask the same of him.

3. It’s just a televised open mic night

The singers who have the best Voice experience, and don’t look crestfallen when the big red chairs snub them, are those who simply turn up because they think singing on the telly, in front of some popstars, might be a laugh.

Although 70 year old Valerie Bacon, who was basically a Little Britain sketch, could sing, she was never going to make it to the next stage, but her five minutes of fame was lots of fun to watch. “I’ll perform anywhere if the money's right!” she hooted. There’s no money here, pet, it’s the BBC, back to Southport’s far more lucrative working men’s clubs you trot.

70 year old Valerie Bacon provided the fun factor this episodeCredit:
Guy Levy/Wall To Wall

4. Paloma Faith is full of nonsense

Will.I.Am used to be the biggest spouter of rubbish on the show but, ladies and gentlemen, there’s a new contender.

“That was a really beautiful crisp performance,” Paloma, in her grating baby voice, told one auditionee. “It was almost too perfect but that’s a really good place to start in the sense that we’re all striving for that anyway and you’re kind of like there?”

Yeah, man, true that. Sorry, what?

5. Those buzzers were always an accident waiting to happen

It was always going to be will.i.am who’d accidentally press his big red button when he didn’t mean to. The man spends so much time fiddling with his devices, tweeting and “making notes” (secret fan of Words With Friends, perhaps?) that his chair ought to come with a child lock.

He widdled on the bonfire of Alaric Green, a huge hulking bouncer with an oddly pretty face and an even odder musical theatre voice, by admitting he’d turned for him by accident – but thankfully we all lived happily ever after when it transpired that Ricky Wilson had picked him on purpose.

6. Ricky loves the ladies

Much has been made this series of Ricky Wilson’s habit of fluttering his eyelashes at singers to lure them onto his team, and now he’s admitted that he tends to favour female singers.

He made an exception this week for Bradford soul singer Faheem though, saying “it takes an extraordinary male voice to make me turn”. Faheem didn’t buy it – he instead chose to go with will.i.am, whose pitch involved a penknife analogy. Obviously.

7. Interesting debate alert!

A briefly interesting discussion about music on a primetime talent show, who’d’ve thought it? The coaches got into a debate when 17 year old Sammy-Jo Evans sang a country song that verged on pastiche, complete with rockabilly styling.

Ricky Wilson said that she needed to find her real voice and stop impersonating country greats, and Paloma Faith sort of agreed (but mainly took it as an opportunity to boast about her own career). Boy George, however, felt that if country was what Sammy-Jo loved, she was being true to herself.

Ultimately, though, they were united: none of them picked her. Perhaps she can sing a sad song about it.

8. Sometimes there are just too many voices

Steve Devereaux, 60, is a voiceover artist with a regular role on C Beebies. He’s also an aspiring Rat Pack crooner, which is how he wound up on The Voice and inspired Paloma Faith to gush “I’ve found my father figure!”.

They certainly do have a lot in common: both of them really like the sounds of their own voices, singing and otherwise.

9. Thank heavens the Bowie cover was good

When plummy schoolgirl Heather Cameron-Hayes decided to sing David Bowie’s Life On Mars at her audition, she had no idea that by the time the show was broadcast, her hero would sadly be no more.

And nor, of course, did Boy George, who did some top-notch name-dropping (“I’ve had dinner with Bowie”) and praised Heather’s song choice. “I’m always pleased when I hear someone so young singing a Bowie song, it’s a mark of good taste,” he said.

The good news is, Heather was great, and made it through, on Boy George's team. If she hadn’t, we have a feeling her audition might have been discreetly edited out.

10. The judges really want us to believe there’s tension

It’s taken them a few years, but the people behind The Voice have finally cottoned onto the fact that us viewers, with our monotonous lives and lacklustre hair that always looks the same, crave drama. Therefore, they’re trying to fabricate some. Nice of them, huh?

On this week’s episode, a lot of airtime was given over to the supposed spat between Boy George and Paloma Faith. A couple of weeks ago, they were best mates, but now they’re spending large chunks of the show winding each other up, with her calling him “a wolf in sheep’s clothing” (if sheep wore top hats) and him addressing her as “Palaver”. Not buying it – it was entertaining for a second though.

11. Paloma can smell talent

The whole USP of The Voice is the fact that the coaches can't see the singers, so Paloma Faith seems to be hoping she'll sniff out potential stars instead. Whenever an act starts singing, she starts twitching her nose and making the sort of faces one might make if one was at a wine tasting. Which, after an hour and 20 minutes of this, is where we'd all rather be.

Here's what people are saying on social media:

Kevin simm should be the winner of the voice. He has one of the best voices I've ever heard live. Mark #TheVoice